Olympic Luger Dies After Training Accident

[Eupher]

Tough shit. Life's a bitch and then you die.

Just ski the damned thing and shut up. You're having the time of your miserable lives. Enjoy it -- even if you crash.

Freakin' asshats. 

[Hawkgirl]

I just watched the video.....the placement of those steel columns is just crazy.   I wouldn't be surprised if more injuries occur.

[Gratiot]

Flying out of the track at 90+ mph....would any safety feature have really made a difference?

Even a super-padded barrier....as hard as he would have hit, his body still would have suffered a lot of damage.

I don't think human bones are capable of withstanding impact against anything at 90mph....

Yes, absolutely they would have made a difference.  They're called Air Fences and made down in Australia, they're successfully used around the world at race tracks to protect people from being thrown into immobile objects.  Motorcycle racers regularly crash into them at well over 100+ mph and walk away without a scratch.

However they're always supposed to be used as a secondary means of protection.  With the primary means of protection being a crash zone.  Ideally every race track is designed so that on the outside of the turn, past the apex, exists a safe crash zone without any objects to strike.

[AllosaursRus]

Tough shit. Life's a bitch and then you die.

Just ski the damned thing and shut up. You're having the time of your miserable lives. Enjoy it -- even if you crash.

Freakin' asshats.  

My point is, with our current tech, the columns could have been cantilevered so they were not an obstacle! At least not in direct line of obstruction! Life shoudn't be that much of a bitch!

[Eupher]

My point is, with our current tech, the columns could have been cantilevered so they were not an obstacle! At least not in direct line of obstruction! Life shoudn't be that much of a bitch!

My comment was directed toward the SKIERS who were bitching about their downhill course. A downhill ski course is just that - each one is different. And while the snow issue is poor, that's a quality issue that isn't really worthy of the level of bitching that's going on. My point is, they wanna ski? They deal with the conditions, and all the skiers have to deal with them.

Clearly, the luge track has some significant safety-related issues that certainly warrant examination.

[Chris_]

Apparently it wasn't all THAT bad.
I see where Vonn won the GOLD for women's skiing.

[AllosaursRus]

My comment was directed toward the SKIERS who were bitching about their downhill course. A downhill ski course is just that - each one is different. And while the snow issue is poor, that's a quality issue that isn't really worthy of the level of bitching that's going on. My point is, they wanna ski? They deal with the conditions, and all the skiers have to deal with them.

Clearly, the luge track has some significant safety-related issues that certainly warrant examination.

We've had a pretty bad year on this end of the country for skiable snow. It's like you say, if you want to ski, you put up with the conditions. Snow is as snow falls. Seems many at the Olympics are using it as an excuse.